Damien Hirst’s dead hand moves from moths to butterflies to vultures
DAMIEN Hirst is the butterfly killer. At his show In And Out of Love at London’s Tate Modern, the butterflies hatch, fly about and then land on bowls of fruit, sugary water and flowers. Some, however, gets trodden on, batted off clothes and killed. In the 23 weeks the show ran for 9,000 butterflies died.
The RSPCA is upset:
“In this so-called ‘art exhibition’, butterflies are forced to exist in the artificial environment of a closed room for their entire lives. There would be national outcry if the exhibition involved any other animal, such as a dog. Just because it is butterflies, that does not mean they do not deserve to be treated with kindness.”
Poor Damien. Had he only have used moths, as he surely did in more impoverished times. But he grew rich and opted instead for exotic Owl and Heliconius species. Perhaps Hirst could use dogs when the show tours Malaysia, seals in Canada, cats in China and Charles Saatchi in smarter parts of town.
Photos and PS: Above is Damien Hirst’s sculpture Let’s Eat Outdoors Today pictured at the opening of the Modern British Sculpture exhibition, at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London. The piece is a big glass box split in half. One side features a tray of maggots. These hatch into flies. The other side contains plastic garden furniture, some left-over chicken and an electric blue-lit fly killer. Hirst created the thing in 1990, when he was a student. There was not popular lament on the death of so many flies. And it is thought that the very wealthy Hirst will now renews his artwork, and sim to cause offence, by replacing the flies with vultures.
Posted: 15th, October 2012 | In: Celebrities, The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
